ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Oakland University Board of Trustees has appointed George W. Hynd as the new university president, one year after the sudden retirement of Gary Russi, on the day his wife was fired as women's basketball coach.
Hynd is currently the provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs for the College of Charleston. He has created new undergraduate and graduate degree programs in African American Studies, exercise science, archeology, public administration and finance at the College of Charleston. Hynd has also led initiatives to expand summer learning online and implemented a degree completion program.
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Prior to working at the College of Charleston, he was senior vice provost for education and innovation, and dean and director of the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education at Arizona State University.
Hynd has also written, co-written, and edited 11 books, as well as 57 book chapters and published 153 refereed journal articles that focus on theoretical and clinical issues in clinical child neuropsychology.
He holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Guam, and Pepperdine University.
The school issued a statement Tuesday saying that the board will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday "to appoint Oakland University's next president."
About 20,000 students attend Oakland. Its campus spans 1,443 acres in the Oakland County cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, about 20 miles north of Detroit.
University Vice President Betty Youngblood has served as interim president for the past year.
Russi became president in 1995 and quit June 12, 2013. That day, the university fired Beckie Francis as coach, saying she abused players and pushed her Christian beliefs on them.